The Oklahoma attorney general is an ally of the fossil fuel industry who has long fought environmental protections. Pruitt, 48, was among the state attorneys general to sue over the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, one of President Barack Obama’s efforts to curb carbon emissions, in a case that is pending. In contravention to what at least 97 percent of the world’s publishing climate scientists believe is extremely likely, he questions how much effect human activity is having on global warming. Donald Trump said in announcing his choice, that Pruitt would reverse the Environmental Protection Agency’s “out-of-control anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs, while also undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn.” Pruitt, who served in the Oklahoma Legislature before being elected attorney general, also fought Obamacare, supported attempts to restrict abortion and defended Oklahoma’s attempts to ban same-sex marriage A 2014 investigation by The New York Times found that energy lobbyists had drafted letters that Pruitt sent on state stationery to Obama, the EPA and other agencies complaining of the cost of environmental rules.

Haley, 44 and the daughter of immigrants from India, is the two-term governor of South Carolina. Before being elected governor in 2010, she served three terms in South Carolina's statehouse. She led the drive to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse after nine churchgoers were shot to death at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. She was a strong critic of Donald Trump early on, warning of "the siren call of the angriest voices," accusing him of contributing to "irresponsible talk" and chastising him for failing to sufficiently condemn the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. She has little experience in international affairs, which could be an issue in her confirmation hearings for the cabinet-level position, though she has traveled overseas on international trade missions on behalf of South Carolina. Trump said she had a "proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country — she is also a proven deal-maker, and we look to be making plenty of deals."